The MON token for the newly introduced Monad blockchain made its trading debut on Monday, but early market activity suggests a lukewarm reception for one of the most anticipated Layer 1 blockchains of the year.
MON changed hands around $0.02417 in the first few hours of trading, according to data from Coinbase. With 10.83 billion tokens in circulation, MON opened with a market capitalization of approximately $262 million.
Commercial activity was moderate. In the first 100 minutes, MON recorded just $50 million in trading volume, less than is typical for the debut of a layer 1 token and a sign that demand may be weaker than expected.
The great start follows a disappointing public token sale on Coinbase’s Token platform. Of the circulating supply, 7.5% was allocated for sale at $0.025 per token, higher than what MON is currently trading at.
Many recent token launches have sold out almost instantly, most notably Plasma, which sold out in the first block. In contrast, the sale of MON took much longer to complete. This could be a sign of a lack of demand that seems to be a constant theme in the commercial debut.
MON tokenomics has sparked debate among the community. The Monad team controls 27% of the total supply, while 19.7% goes to investors, 4% to the Labs Treasury, and 38.5% to ecosystem development. Some observers have argued that the team’s allocation is unusually large for a new Layer 1 network and could weigh on market sentiment.
